[First Person POV: Inder]
Slap.
I felt a strange sensation.
My head spun like crazy.
My vision blurred as I found it hard to even concentrate on what's ahead of me.
My left cheek felt numb, and a stinging pain shot through it.
It was painful.
Huff...Huff..
My body felt encaged as if I were bound by something, and every single breath of mine was shallow.
Ba-dum Ba-dum
The beating of my heart sounded so loud that its echo reverberated in my brain like roaring drums.
The pain in my cheeks continued to intensify as my disoriented senses started to come back.
'Where was I?'
A thought came to my mind as my brain started to work slowly.
'Yeah, I was with Delilah.'
Soon, my last memories also started to come back as I remembered that I 'accidentally' fell from the terrace.
'She must be worried about me.'
My heart throbbed in pain as the thought of her worrying about my well-being crossed my mind.
'Where is she?'
Ignoring all the pain, my shallow breath, and my throbbing heart, I forcefully tried to concentrate, looking for anyone around me.
It was difficult, like someone had put sand in my eyes.
I was having a hard time even trying to open them, but I ignored the difficulty as I looked in front of me with groggy eyes.
'huh?'
Confusion overwhelmed my mind as I looked at the woman who stood in front of me.
In a black ball gown dress, she looked extremely beautiful, while her long platinum straight hair fell gracefully, reaching her waist.
Her gray eyes looked coldly at me, without a hint of familiarity.
'W-what?'
Again, my mind twisted in confusion as the woman raised her hand.
Slap.
A crisp and sharp sound resonated throughout the place as the woman slapped my left cheek, increasing the pain that I was already feeling.
'Urgh..'
I tried to groan in pain, but nothing came out of my mouth, as if my mouth was sealed by something or like someone had sewn it shut—it refused to open.
Even when I tried to move my body, it refused to budge from its place.
In panic, I tried to look around the place, but only my eyes moved while the rest of my body remained still.
The room looked luxurious, filled with lots of expensive items.
Priceless works of art lined the walls, and a plush armchair with a similar table in design caught my eye.
My confusion soon turned into fear as I realized I was in a completely different place.
'WHERE THE HELL AM I?'
I wanted to scream. I wanted to move. But my body refused to respond as I sat in the same place.
Slap.
Another crisp and sharp sound resonated within the room as the woman slapped me again.
Now my cheeks felt like they were burning; even the numbness that I felt before wasn't able to completely subdue the pain.
'Why are you slapping me!?'
An intense sense of humiliation and anger washed over me, but more than that, I felt uneasiness about being confined in a way that I couldn't even move.
Slap.
Again, she slapped me, but this time my head moved; the force behind her slap was so hard that my face twisted towards the right side.
The inner skin of my cheeks broke as blood began to gush out from them, the warm blood filling my mouth.
Though I couldn't taste the blood, I felt its warmth.
"Do you know why you are being slapped, Azariah?"
A mature and beautiful voice filled my ears as the woman started to speak.
I lifted my gaze and looked at her.
Her lifeless gray eyes looked coldly at me.
'Azariah?'
But soon her words registered in my mind, and confusion followed suit.
'What are you saying?'
I tried to talk, but my mouth refused to open up, as if it were bound, and I wasn't able to say anything.
"I told you to behave yourself at the party, didn't I?"
She continued to speak, but my mind remained fixed on the name she spoke of.
Crack.
'Urgh..'
The sound of cartilage being torn apart filled the air as my brain registered intense pain.
I tried to look down, but my head remained fixed in one place as the intense pain from the end of my ribs continued.
"Look at me when I am talking, Azariah."
The woman said, forcing me to look at her.
Gulp.
Gulping down the blood that had built up in my mouth, I faced her. Now, I didn't try to look away from her, staring right into her lifeless eyes.
"What was your reason for your unsightly behavior in front of the princess?"
She asked, her lifeless eyes fixed on me.
And even though I wanted to reply, even though I wanted to curse her, I couldn't; my mouth remained shut, betraying my every command.
'Urgh...'
"Even though you know you will get punished, why do you not listen?"
She asked as she forcefully placed her hand on my burning left cheek; her hand felt soft yet cold, touching my cheek roughly, bringing intense pain.
"Why don't you behave like your mother wants you to?"
She asked in a cold voice as she continued to rub my cheek, knowing full well that it would hurt me.
"Is it really that hard to behave yourself? Is it really that hard?"
She forcefully rubbed my cheeks, and even though the feeling of the pain started to numb again, the blood that gushed out of it soon started to fill my mouth.
"I want you to properly apologize to the princess when you meet her next time, do you understand?"
Retracting her hand, she said it with a tone that didn't sound like she wanted to hear a no.
With difficulty, I nodded my head as I looked at her.
"Good."
With that, she walked back towards the door, and, opening it, she moved out.
Gasp...Gasp...
As soon as she left the room, my body started to move again, and I immediately fell on my knees, right beside the bed I was sitting on.
Cough...Cough...
Coughing, I let out the blood that was filling my mouth as it started to spread on the carpet and soak it.
The pain in my ribs, the shallow breathing, the throbbing heart— all of them assaulted my body simultaneously as I felt an intense urge to throw up.
"Where am I?"
Grabbing the sides of my ribs that stung even from touching a little, I whispered, and a voice that didn't belong to me left my mouth.
"WHERE AM I?"